Former World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska claimed the KEB Hana Bank Korea Open title in 2013, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final. This is her first appearance in Seoul since 2014, where she made the quarterfinals as the defending champion before losing to Varvara Lepchenko.

Radwanska will meet former doubles World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the third time, but the first time since 2014. Both of their previous matches have taken place in Australia, with Radwanska winning in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open, and Mattek-Sands triumphing in the second round at Sydney in 2014.

No.7 seed Irina-Camelia Begu is another former champion who contests the first round on Tuesday, as the Romanian took home the trophy in 2015, beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. Begu has a 1-0 head-to-head record against her first-round opponent, former Top 25 player Mona Barthel. Begu beat Barthel via a final-set tiebreak at an ITF event in France in 2011.

20-year-old Tamara Zidansek is appearing in just her sixth WTA main draw this week, but she has been a serial champion on the ITF Circuit this year, and has accrued 52 match already this season. Zidansek won her first-round singles match on Monday over Polona Hercog, and kicks off her doubles event partnering Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Tuesday.

No.6 seed Hsieh Su-wei plays her first-round matches in singles and doubles on Tuesday, just two days after winning her third career WTA singles title in Hiroshima. Hsieh defeated teenager Amanda Anisimova in the final in Japan on Sunday.